"While Europe's governments and financial markets have been fixated in recent months by the ongoing fiscal and political disaster otherwise known as Greece, the challenges facing one of the EU's smallest members are, frankly, quite minor compared to what may well be Europe's biggest looming internal problem. The name of that challenge? In a word: France." (03/25/15)

"Greece has called for joint talks with leaders of Germany, France and the European Union executive to try and resolve the crisis surrounding the country's bailout negotiations. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras proposed meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a senior Greek government official told The Associated Press Tuesday." (03/17/15)

"The European Union needs its own army to help address the problem that it is not 'taken entirely seriously' as an international force, the president of the European commission has said. Jean-Claude Juncker said such a move would help the EU to persuade Russia that it was serious about defending its values in the face of the threat posed by Moscow. However, his proposal was immediately rejected by the British government, which said that there was 'no prospect' of the UK agreeing to the creation of an EU army." (03/08/15)

"Russian gas exporter Gazprom said on Thursday it had received a $15 million prepayment from Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz, averting a possible cut in supply, at least for a few days. The money is enough to cover 45.6 million cubic meters of gas, or about five days of supply at current rates of delivery, Gazprom said by e-mail. Gazprom had warned that supply to Kiev could be cut off as soon as Friday if no payment was made. Any possible cuts in gas supplies to Ukraine could have a knock-on effect for the European Union, where Russia meets one third of the fuel demand. Around 40 percent of Russian gas to the EU goes via Ukraine." (03/05/15)

"Germany has rejected a Greek request for a six-month extension to its eurozone loan programme. The rejection came despite the European Commission calling the Greek request 'positive' only minutes earlier. Greece had sought a new six-month assistance package, rather than a renewal of the existing deal that comes with tough austerity conditions. However, a German finance ministry spokesman said the new plea was 'not a substantial proposal for a solution.'" (02/19/15)

"The European Union has added 19 more individuals, including a Russian deputy minister of defense, on its sanctions list for their actions linked to the [Ukrainian invasion of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics]. The EU published the list, which also included nine entities, on Monday, one week after the EU foreign ministers decided on the issue. There was a week's lapse in the publishing of the list because of the negotiations which led to an agreement between Ukraine and Russia last Thursday." (02/16/15)

"Spurred to action by last month's terror attacks in France, European Union leaders agreed Thursday on an ambitious range of new steps to better protect [sic] their countries from terrorism. Actions unanimously endorsed at an EU summit meeting include the sharing of airline passenger data, tougher border controls on travelers and the detection and removal of Internet content promoting terrorism or extremism." (02/12/15)

"The EU has agreed to postpone new sanctions against Russia to give time to see if a four-way Ukraine peace summit makes progress, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says. ... Foreign ministers from the 28-nation European Union had agreed on January 29 to add 19 people, including five Russians, to a list of those facing travel bans and asset freezes after an upsurge in fighting in [Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics]. They were meant to formally sign off on the decision in Brussels on Monday, but decided to compromise pending the outcome of Wednesday's crunch summit of the French, German, Russian and Ukraine leaders in the Belarussian capital Minsk." (02/10/15)

"Greece's new finance minister has urged Germany to help end the 'gross indignity' of the Greek debt crisis. Yanis Varoufakis said 'too much time, hopes, lives' had been wasted by Greece's forced austerity programme. He was speaking after talks with his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schaeuble, who said a reduction of Greece's debt was off the agenda. Mr Varoufakis has been seeking support for Greece's plan to renegotiate its massive international bailout." (02/05/15)

"Greek markets are tumbling after the European Central Bank raised the pressure on the country's new anti-austerity government to stick to the terms of its [predecessor regime's] massive international bailout program, a message Germany is likely to reinforce later Thursday. ... Stocks in Athens fell by 6% in early trading, and the country's banks were even harder hit. Piraeus Bank (BPIRF) plunged by 16% and the National Bank of Greece (NBG) was down 15%. The yield on 10-year Greek government bonds jumped to nearly 11%." (02/05/15)

"Police in Brussels have detained a man following a security scare that forced the evacuation of the EU Parliament. This comes amid heightened security weeks after police said they had thwarted a major terror attack. The public prosecutor's office in Brussels said on Monday that police had approached the man, who was dressed in camouflage gear, after he was observed acting in what was deemed to be a suspicious manner near several of the European Parliament's administrative offices. A statement released by the prosecutor's office said that when police asked him about his intentions, he 'said that he wanted to meet the president of the parliament.' Police then sealed off an area around the Slovakian man's parked car and hundreds of people were evacuated from the Parliamentary offices as a precaution." (02/02/15)

"Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras began the hunt for allies against German demands for austerity [sic] as his week-old government appealed to the European Central Bank not to shut off the money tap. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said his country['s politicians] won't take any more aid under [their] existing bailout agreement and wants a new deal with its[' previous politicians'] official creditors by the end of May. While Greece tries to wring concessions on its [politicians'] debt and spending plans, it needs the ECB's help to keep its banks afloat, Varoufakis said at a briefing in Paris late Sunday." (02/01/15)

"Russia on Monday scrapped the South Stream pipeline project to supply gas to southern Europe without crossing Ukraine, citing EU objections, and instead named Turkey as its preferred partner for an alternative pipeline, with a promise of hefty discounts. The EU, at loggerheads with Moscow over Ukraine, and keen to reduce its energy dependence on Russia, had objected to the $40 billion South Stream pipeline, which was to enter the EU via Bulgaria, on competition grounds." (12/01/14)

"The European science ministers are hoping to strike a last-minute deal to provide funding for the Ariane rocket. Ministers from the 20-nation bloc are scheduled to meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday to resolve the future of the workhorse Ariane rocket. They will also decide on the future of Europe’s involvement in the International Space Station (ISS). ... The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking to respond to the U.S. rival SpaceX and protect thousands of jobs in the region. Founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, SpaceX offers low-cost satellite launches." (12/01/14)

"In a move whose bark is worse than its bite, the European Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution suggesting one way to address Google's dominance is by splitting the company's search business from its other operations. The nonbinding resolution calls upon the European Commission, whose competition division has been scrutinizing Google's search dominance since 2010, 'to consider proposals aimed at unbundling search engines from other commercial services.' That unbundling could separate Google services such as flight search, hotel reservations and shopping comparison from the company's search results." (11/27/14)

"The European Parliament reportedly is scheduled to vote this week on a political non-binding resolution urging the European Commission to 'enforce EU competition rules decisively' against search engines, i.e. Google. What is going on? In a nutshell, this vote has three big effective implications. It is a political revolt and declaration of Independence from Google's virtual hegemony. It is a rejection of former EC Vice President Almunia's gross mishandling of the Google competition case. And it is a vote for a European 'single digital market' to promote European economic growth and job creation." (11/25/14)

The Intercept by Morgan Marquis-Boire, Claudio Guarnieri and Ryan Gallagher

"Complex malware known as Regin is the suspected technology behind sophisticated cyberattacks conducted by U.S. and British intelligence agencies on the European Union and a Belgian telecommunications company, according to security industry sources and technical analysis conducted by The Intercept. Regin was found on infected internal computer systems and email servers at Belgacom, a partly state-owned Belgian phone and internet provider, following reports last year that the company was targeted in a top-secret surveillance operation carried out by British spy agency Government Communications Headquarters, industry sources told The Intercept." (11/24/14)

"The European Parliament is preparing to call for a break-up of Google Inc that would separate its search services from its other businesses, the Financial Times on Friday cited a draft motion as saying. European regulators are increasingly concerned about Google's and other American companies` growing dominance of the Internet industry, and have sought ways to curb Google`s perceived power. A public call for a break-up would be the most far-reaching action proposed. ... Parliament lacks the authority to break up corporations, but a public motion will step up the pressure on the European Commission to act. " [editor's note: It's already been established that any time Google gives these creeps an inch they go for a mile. Time to just say "nope -- we won't maintain any offices in the EU, good luck stopping your serfs from using us" - TLK] (11/22/14)

"Which organisation has been responsible for the deaths of an estimated 23,000 people over the past 11 years, including 1,600 over the past six months? It's the same organisation that has recently introduced a policy that condemns thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, more to die in exactly the same way. Is this the barbarism of the Islamic State or Al Qaeda? Nope. This murderous horde is in fact the European Union (EU). In enforcing what was recently described by researchers as the 'most dangerous border on earth' -- one which is responsible for around 75 per cent of all border deaths worldwide -- the EU has condemned hundreds of thousands of people to death, simply for having the temerity to attempt to create a better life for themselves in Europe." (11/04/14)

"Chancellor Angela Merkel would rather see the UK exit from the European Union than compromise over the principle of free movement of workers, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel. Mrs Merkel is alleged to fear that the UK is approaching a 'point of no return.' Downing Street would not comment on the reports. Mr Cameron wants to renegotiate the terms of the UK's continued membership before holding an in-out referendum." (11/02/14)

"The Court of Justice of the European Union handed down a landmark verdict this week. The Court ruled that embedding copyrighted videos is not copyright infringement, even if the source video was uploaded without permission. ... The full decision has yet to be published officially by the Court's website but TorrentFreak has received a copy (in German) from the defendants' lawyer Dr. Bernhard Knies, who describes it as a landmark victory. The Court argues that embedding a file or video is not a breach of creator's copyrights under European law, as long as it’s not altered or communicated to a new public. In the current case, the video was already available on YouTube so embedding it is not seen as a new communication." (10/25/14)

"It’s a fact of political life in the European Union that most Europeans eligible to vote at EU elections don’t vote. And yet, curiously, the EU’s leaders are not anxious about people’s lack of participation. No, they are seemingly more worried about those who are participating -- in short, they’re worried about populism." (09/30/14)

"Like many, I am convinced that the EU is a deeply flawed organization and that it mostly deserves much of the criticism that it receives from pro-market circles. At a more fundamental level, I also think that institutional competition and 'voting with one’s feet' is important, and see the thoughtless 'harmonization' of legal and regulatory regimes across the continent as extremely damaging. However, I no longer think, as I once did, that the EU is the single biggest threat to freedom and prosperity in Europe." (09/09/14)

"Contrary to tech-driven conventional wisdom, privacy is not dead. It’s being resurrected by SCOTUS in the U.S. and by various European authorities in the EU. This post-Snowden change is real and profound. The next twenty years will be different than the last when it comes to privacy." (08/05/14)

"The European Union threatened Russia on Tuesday with harsher sanctions over Ukraine that could inflict wider damage on its economy following the downing of a Malaysian airliner, but it delayed action for a few days. Efforts to forge a united front were hampered by a French announcement that the planned delivery of a warship to Moscow would go ahead despite U.S. and British pleas to halt it. At a meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers for the first time raised the possibility of restricting Russian access to European capital markets, defence and energy technology, asking the executive European Commission to draft proposals this week." (07/22/14)